


Gold Rush

by farfarawaygirl



Series: Give it Time [1]
Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, accidentally in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:34:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28535967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farfarawaygirl/pseuds/farfarawaygirl
Summary: She could do this.Act like it never happened. Pretend things were fine. In a strange way last night felt like something that wasn’t real. Like Sylvie had watched it on screen, and was now able to just skip the channel. It was, after all, she mused, better to know.
Relationships: Sylvie Brett/Matthew Casey
Series: Give it Time [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2090436
Comments: 30
Kudos: 90





	Gold Rush

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Evermore
> 
> I’m working on a bit of a series, a collection of ‘what if’s’, I’ve got two more in the works. 😘

Sylvie looks at herself one last time in the review mirror; she can do this. Smiling at herself she lets out one last breath and gets out of her car. Last night was a long, sleepless night, but this morning bright and early she called her mom. Hesitantly she explained the situation, and asked for advice. 

Her mom had called her ‘honey’, in that familiar way, which made Sylvie almost want to cry and then she had simply said. 

“I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t love you. I’ve loved you ever since I picked you up at the hospital.”

It had been the right thing to say. Brought things back into perspective. She’d put her heart on the line, and didn’t get the ending she wanted. Well, Sylvie had been heartbroken a time or two before. So what if this time the pain was settling deeper in her ribs? Who cared if this time the possibility of it was so tantalizing that Sylvie had been thinking about it for months? 

Inconsequential. 

She had a job to do, and she was going to do it. 

“Morning!” She called across the apron to Tony who was on temperature check duty. Sylvie waited behind Gallo for her turn, asked Tony about his days off, keep it casual and headed for the locker room. Casey was there, the first person she saw when she rounded the corner, looking at something Severide was showing him. 

No big deal. 

“Hey guys. Ready for shift?” Severide nodded at her, pocketing his phone, they turned to look at Casey, as Sylvie opened her locker, taking off her jacket. He was staring at Sylvie, his face drawn together. “Casey?”

“Yeah.” He nodded too, Sylvie turned around, grabbing a vest from the depth of her locker. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

Sylvie shut her door, “better hope there is coffee then.” And she left the room, her shaking hands shoved in her vest pockets. 

She could do this. 

Act like it never happened. Pretend things were fine. In a strange way last night felt like something that wasn’t real. Like Sylvie had watched it on screen, and was now able to just skip the channel. It was, after all, she mused, better to know. 

Mackey and Cruz were standing at the coffee station, talking about some local gossip. Sylvie reached over Joe and got a cup, poured one for herself and topped up their cups. Things were different with Mackey than they had ever been with a partner Sylvie had ridden with before. She liked her, but that friendship and bonding that she had felt with Foster wasn’t there. 

How many times can you expect lightening to strike? 

“Let’s get to the meeting, coming partner?” Sylvie asked, smiling at the younger paramedic. 

Giana smiled back. “Yeah. I have some questions after about how you stock the ambo.”

-

Matt spent the morning meeting watching the back of Sylvie’s head. She had surprised him this morning, her nonchalance in speaking to him, to seeing him. He was, well, he wasn’t doing well to be honest. He had thought she was dead, and then she wasn’t, but then she was avoiding him. She had said that stuff about him being the one who was always there for her, and then she had smiled so softly at across the table at Molly’s. 

She had kissed him. 

He had been the one to show up, but she had kissed him. 

Matt had kissed her back. 

It had been a great kiss. But then she had pulled back and asked him if she would leave with Gabby. The morning after, Matt thinks the question was what wrong footed him. How she worded it. If she had asked how he felt about Gabby, maybe he would have been able to think it through. But when she asked if he would leave, the first thought that went through his mind was last fall when Gabby had been in Chicago. 

He hadn’t wanted to explain that night, and the voicemail, to Sylvie when he was literally on top of her on the couch. But, Matt thinks now, that if he had just told her, she wouldn’t have asked him to leave. 

Thanked him for his honesty and asked him to leave her apartment. 

He’d driven down to the lake after he had left, sat for a few hours in the inky darkness and just cursed himself. 

Matt wasn’t in love with Gabby. He knew that. But he didn’t know what he would do if she showed up, didn’t know who he would be. 

-

It had been a hard call. A long one too, after everything had settled down on site, Ambo had left, Sylvie patching up Casey’s cheek before taking the injured man to Chicago Med. The timing of it was all off, so much so that Ambo wasn’t in the house with Truck for a solid four hours. As soon as she was back, Sylvie let Giana know she needed to check on Casey’s cheek and headed for the bunk room. 

Afternoon sunlight was filtering though the windows, casting bright streams on the floor and desk. Sylvie knocked. 

“Hey.” Matt snapped his head up at her knock, standing, he invited her in. 

“How is your face feeling?”

She was all business, not betraying the anxiety she had felt. She still felt. There had been blood on his face, Sylvie would have felt panic no matter who had been hurt. It’s just that Casey was- well, she had caressed that cheek just last night. 

Matt shrugged, pulling the door closed. “I’m fine.”

“Okay.” She struggled to not roll her eyes. “I expect good wound care. No forgetting to change bandages.”

“Can we talk?”

Matt’s voice is soft in the space of his office, gentle and close. Sylvie wasn’t expecting him to bring it up. “I think,” Sylvie says, her eyes downcast, “we said what needed to be said last night.”

“My feelings for you are real,” something bright and perfect builds in her chest, “regardless of my feelings for Gabby.” It dissolves. 

“Casey.” Sylvie tilts her head, it’s him who makes a noise of frustration, “there is no regardless of Gabby. That’s kind of the point.”

Casey closes his eyes, puts a hand to his forehead and scowls a little. Sylvie reminds herself that he’s frustrated, this whole thing can’t have been easy for him. 

“I’m sorry, Matt.” She wants to hug him, wants to bury her nose into his neck and just camp out in his arms. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“Sylvie! Would you give me a minute to try and...”

Sylvie cuts him off, doesn’t want to hear him try and reason away what happened. “It’s okay. We can still be friends. I don’t want to ruin that, your friendship is really important to me.”

Casey is looking at her, his eyes appear tired. He is opening his mouth when Herrmann knocks on the door, Sylvie makes her escape as Herrmann asks Casey about some paperwork for the last call. It’s fine, she reasons, heading to the kitchen, they can’t really go back, but they can be friends. 

She’s trying to wipe the emotion off her face, when she bumps into Severide outside his quarters. 

“You good?” He asks, Sylvie is surprised at the look he shoots her; half agonized, half suspicious.

Sylvie shakes her head. “Give it time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please, tell me what you think!!!!


End file.
